With 50% Post 9/11 GI Bill Eligibility, How Much of My Technical School Tuition Is Paid?

Q: I am eligible for 50% of my GI Bill and I was recently discharged. My school is an aviation maintenance technical school. The monthly bill for the school is $1,430. How is this paid? Do I pay half of this or does the 50% of the GI Bill provide enough for this? If not, can I use the BAH do pay the difference?

A: Because of your 50% Post 9/11 GI Bill eligibility, the VA would only pay 50% of your $1,430 monthly amount directly to your school. The other half would be your responsibility to pay from other financial sources.

You would also only get 50% of the housing allowance amount calculated for your school’s zip code. As far as using your housing allowance to pay your half of the tuition, yes you can use it for that purpose. Your monthly housing allowance will come directly to you in the form of a check or Direct Deposit, depending on how you have it set up and you can use that money for whatever you want.

If your school is not a four-year degree producing school (and it sounds like it is not), then you would also get $83 per month for books and supplies, instead of the $41.67 per credit in a book stipend, so depending on the cost of your books, you might have some additional money left that you could also use for tuition.

So between what the VA pays, your housing allowance and book stipend, that should cover the majority of your education costs, leaving very little left for you to pay out-of-pocket. The only other consideration is you will have to have money for monthly living expenses also.

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